It's Been So Long
by HelloLoveGoodbye
Summary: InuYasha and Kagome are living five hundred years apart, unable to see each other. Both having a hard time accepting their fates, they reminisce on good times, when suddenly time is on their side once again, giving the two another chance at true love.


InuYasha's POV

It has been three years to this very day since Kagome was forced back to her own time; three years since she was unable to reach me through the Bone Eaters Well; three long years since Kagome was taken away from me. It has been three years to this very day since my heart was broken into a million tiny pieces. _Oh Kagome. I miss you._

I wonder what she is doing now. I always wonder what she's doing, just as I always sit by the well and await her return. Sometimes I think my waiting is in vain; that she will never return to me. But I must have hope. I must always have hope that one day she will return to me. It's been three long years and no matter how hard I try I can not bring myself to forget her.

So now I reside here in Lady Kaede's village, still hoping against all odds that Kagome will somehow be able to return to a time that was never hers to begin with. I haven't left the village in three years feeling I desperately needed to stay here. I'd fallen in as the "village protector" and protect the village I did. I had slain every demon that came near it.

Sango, Miroku and Shippou had stayed here as well feeling it was really the only place they felt at home. They once told me that being near the Well and around me made them feel closer to Kagome. I never admitted it to them, but it was the same for me. Lady Kaede welcomed us all with open arms. I'd come to really respect her.

Kagome was my eye opener. I did have some more growing up to do just as she always said I did, but her disappearing was what finally did it for me. I grew up and I grew up fast. That's how I know that if Kagome ever came back to this place, I wouldn't hesitate to tell her how I felt about her. I would tell her right away of the pain that has been in my heart since she's been gone. I'd even admit to her how I cried many nights missing her and worrying about her safety. I would tell her how the love I felt for Kikyou couldn't hold a candle to the love I felt for her. Then I would take her in my arms and look her right in her beautiful eyes and finally tell her the three words that I'd been too stubborn to say to her before.

I'd be sure to emphasize each word; each standing for every year I'd been apart from her. And I would never ever be mean to her again. She would be my hero, my savior as she always has been. _If only I could see her again._

I sighed heavily as a single tear drop slid down my cheek and fell into the well.

"InuYasha!" A voice that I recognized as Shippou's called out to me. I stood up and walked over to him.

"Yeah Shippou? What's goin' on?" I asked.

"InuYasha! Another demon! Miroku and Sango need your help!" Shippou said breathlessly.

With that said, I took off running towards the village - my home.

"Shippou, stay here!" I yelled back at him.

I wouldn't let him get hurt. Now would I stand for letting a demon hurt any one of my friends. With that in mind, I raced to my village to protect and to slay.

Kagome's POV

It has been three years to this very day that I was forced back to my own time; three years since time and magic no longer gave me the pleasure of seeing my friends and InuYasha; three years since I lost my one true love; and three years since my heart broke into a million tiny pieces becuase of that loss.

I often wondered how everyone was doing. Were they safe? Where they okay? _Were they alive?!_ My heart would shatter even further at the thought of any one of them being dead, because it would only mean that I truly never would ever see that person again.

And that thought alone is what drove me to sit by the Well every single day, jumping in, wishing harder then ever before that it would take me back five hundred years. Back to InuYasha and Sango. Back to Miroku and Shippou. _Oh InuYasha. You'll never know how much I miss you. How much I long to see you._

It has been three years and I don't have a single thing to remember him by, besides my memories of him. Unfortunately memories fade so I did my best to recall everyting; every event, every word, every demon, and I wrote it all down. So far it's taken up three big notebooks. I'm just about to start a fourth.

If I ever say InuYasha again I'd show him everything I'd written down. Then he'd know my true feelings for him. This time around I wouldn't stop myself from telling him on the account of me feeling vulnerable. I don't care anymore if he has no feelings for me, I just want him to know that I care deeply for him and I would gladly set my vulnerabilities aside so I could say those three words to him that i have longed to say from the very beginning.

The three words that seem to be scrawled on every page of all three notebooks, each notebook only proving to show how much I care, as if each of the three notebooks are the three words themselves, written out to define the depth of my true feelings for InuYasha. _Oh InuYasha, it's been so long. Do you remember me as I remember you?_

I wonder if he realizes that it's been three years to this day. Does he realize that I graduated high school today? I let out a small giggle. School was one of the things that kept dragging me back home, away from InuYasha. _Would you be proud of me? Would you have been here to watch me graduate? InuYasha! I miss you! I miss you so much!_

What I would have given to have had him at my ceremony, but that too is but a memory now. So, here I sit, yet again, at the bottom step next to the Well, reminiscing on everything and missing IunYasha even more. _InuYasha, I'll never ever say goodbye to you. And more importantly I'll never ever forget you. You have to believe that._

"Please believe that InuYasha." I whispered. _I know you believe that._

Sighing deeply, I stood from my perpetual seat on the bottom step next to the Well and leaned over to stare into the abyss. _I want to see you InuYasha. I want to see you so badly, yet no matter how many times I jump down the Well, I'm never granted that one and only wish. Perhaps it's because it's a greedy wish. Or perhaps I'm being punished for something. Regardless, I will still come to this well every day just to see if it opens up for me once again, just to make sure I don't pass up an opportunity to see you again._

I placed my hands on the edges of the Well and lifted myself up and over the ledge into a sitting position and I prayed. I prayed to God that I would be able to overcome time once more. I prayed and prayed until my body shook beneath me.

_Please InuYasha, please be somewhere close, I don't know how long I will have with you this time, but I have to tell you how I feel._

A single tear drop escaped my eye and fell into the Well below me, and without another thought, I jumped. I half expected to be disappointed; to land at the bottom of the Well, still in my time; still with a broken heart. What I wasn't expecting was to continue to fall. I knew that I should have already landed at the bottom of the Well, had I not been permitted to travel back in time.

My heart started to pound in my chest as the adrenalin pumped furiously through my veins, realizing that I had indeed overcome time once more. I thanked God for blessing me with this gift, and with a soft thud on the soil as my feet hit the ground, I stopped moving and landed once more at the bottom of the Bone Eaters Well. I looked around and took in my surroundings. Every bone, every brick and vine. Every crack in the wall of the Well.

Satisfied that I was back in the Feudal Era, I grabbed a hold of the vines and began to climb. I climbed faster then I ever had. _InuYasha I'm coming._ When I reached the top, I could barely contain my excitement and I jumped out of the Well, my breath catching in my throat. Sitting beneath a tree not ten feet away from me, Shippou had his head down playing with his hands.

A huge grin broke out across my face as I watched his fox ears perk up and I saw him sniff the air around him. His eyes grew wide and his head jerked quickly towards the Well where I stood.

"Kagome!" He yelled happily and ran towards me. I opened my arms and he jumped into them, his grin as big as mine.

"Kagome! We missed you so much! I never thought I'd see you again!" He confessed, tears falling freely down his cheeks now.

"Oh Shippou! I missed you too, so much!" I told him, hugging him tightly to me. _Wait, he just said 'we'..._

"Shippou?" I asked, pulling him back to look in his eyes. "How have you been? Have you been okay? And everyone else, how have they been?"

"Oh yes. I've been just fine. We all have," he said, then put his head down and whispered, "Well, except for missing you a lot."

"Shippou! I missed you all too, more then anything. The Well closed up on me and I couldn't get back through, but I tried every single day."

I heaved a sigh and put a smile on my face. "It's okay though. I'm here now." I comforted him.

I looked at him and asked him what I really wanted to know. "Hey Shippou, where is everyone else? Is anyone here with you?"

He smiled widely, "Oh yes! InuYasha, Miroku and Sango are all back at the village with Lady Kaede, but..." his smile faded and my heart sank, not liking the sound of that 'but', "they are fighting a demon right now."

His smile returned suddenly and he told me what I wanted to hear, "Everyone is going to be so excited to see you! Come on! Let's go to the village! You could even help them fight the demon, like old times!" I laughed and complied with his tugging on my shirt. I truly was excited to be able to fight by IunYasha's side again.

So I ran. I ran faster then I'd ever run before and I made it to Lady Kaede's village quickly. My heart rate picked up and beat in my chest as I saw InuYasha fighting beside Sango and Miroku. And I just stared at him pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming as I had done so many times before.

Tears stung my eyes and in that moment I was truly happy. Then, to my horror, I watched as the demon threw InuYasha to the ground and stomped toward him, intent on killing him. I would have that. Frantically, I spoke to Shippou, "I need a bow and arrow! Where can I find one? Quickly, Shippou!"

He pointed to the side of a hut where a bow and a bundle of arrows sat against, and I ran over to them quickly, grabbing the bow and one arrow. I turned and aimed at the demon about to squish InuYasha, and I let go of the arrow, watching it fly through the air, bursting into a pink light. I was more then relieved when the pink glow of the arrowhead busted through the demon, and the demon evaporated, leaving InuYasha safe.

I let out the breath I'd been holding in and allowed the tears to flow freely. All I could do was stare at InuYasha as he stood and brushed himself off, confused as to how the demon was killed.

"Hey, what's the big idea? I had that wench of a demon--"

Everyone immediately looked in the direction the arrow had come from and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw where the arrow actually _had_ come from.

"Kagome! Is that really you?" Miroku asked, running towards me.

"Kagome, your back!" Sango yelled, enthusiastically, running after Miroku towards me.

InuYasha stayed right where he was, staring at me in disbelief. I stared straight at him, seeing nothing else. "InuYasha..." I whispered, the tears still streaming down my face.

InuYasha's POV

I was afraid. I truly was afraid. The demon had caught me off guard, and in the split second, that one mistake was enough to disable me from fighting right now. I was thrown to the ground and dazed, helpless, as I watched the demon running towards me quickly. I closed my eyes tightly. _Kagome! I'm sorry! I hope you never doubted me or my feelings for you! I hope you know, wherever you are, how much I truly care about you. I've missed you so much for so long! Kagome, I lov_--

My thoughts were cut off abruptly as I heard the demon cry loudly in pain and I opened my eyes in time to see the pink glow evaporate with the demon. _What the--? Who killed the demon?_

I stood up quickly and brushed the dirt from my haorie, and put my "game face" - as Kagome always called it - back on.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" I questioned, turning towards the direction the arrow had come. "I had that wench of a demon--" My words caught in my throat as I stared at the sight in front of me. I couldn't believe my eyes; seeing the one person I never thought I'd see again.

"Kagome..." I whispered, wide eyed, "Can it really be?"

I didn't see anything but Kagome. She was older now. She'd grown into her body and she was lovely. I smiled internally as I took her in, pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming, as I usually did. I watched her as she watched me, the tears in sparkling on her cheeks.

_Why are you crying, Kagome?_

I had only one thought after I had seen her tears shining on her cheeks; _comfort Kagome._

I ran to her. I ran as fast as my half demon legs could carry me, and I passed up Miroku and Sango immediately. I reached Kagome, never taking my eyes off of her.

"Kagome? Is it really you?" I asked her, my voice breaking as tears welled up in my own eyes. I inhaled deeply, taking in her scent, knowing it truly was her. She nodded slowly and reached her hand out to touch my face.

"InuYasha." She spoke in a small voice. The flood gates opened and she was crying harder then I'd ever seen her cry. She threw herself into my arms and burried her face in my shoulder.

"Kagome, why are you crying?" I asked her tenderly, holding her to me, as I let my own tears flow freely.

"InuYasha, I just...I just missed you so much!" She cried, never releasing me from her grasp. "I thought I'd never see you again." She confessed.

I was amazed at the girl I was holding in my arms. _Had she really felt the same pain I'd felt for the past three years? Does she care for me the way I care for her?_ I had to know.

"Kagome?" I asked, releasing her from me and looking her in the eye. I could care less that she saw my tear streaked face. "Kagome, will you walk with me?" I questioned, almost desperately.

She nodded quickly, "Of course, InuYasha." She grabbed my hand and I took hers effortlessly, not even noticing the onlookers. I led her down the familiar path towards the Well, both of us enjoying the silence and content with being together. When we reached the Well, I sat her down right where I had say every day, and took a seat next to her.

She looked at me questioningly, waiting for me to speak.

"Kagome, I sat in the exact spot you sit now, every single day for the past three years, waiting for you to come back to me." I said honestly.

She just stared back at me with glassy eyes as she realized what those words meant.

"You...you were waiting for me?" She asked, unbelieving. I had to laugh at that.

"Yes, Kagome." I told her as I brushed some of her stray hair behind her ear. "I was waiting for you."

Her bottom lip quivered slightly and I heard her breathing hitch slightly. She was trying to fight back the traitor tears that threatened to expose her emotions. Much to my excitement, the tears won the battle and my heart fluttered as I reached out to her gently and wiped her tears away, enjoying the blush that graced her cheeks as I did so.

"Oh InuYasha!" She exclaimed joyfully as she threw herself into my arms. "I...I--"

"I love you." I whispered into her ear, cutting her sentence off.

She broke away from me and looked into my eyes, no doubt searching for the truth to my words, which I knew she'd find. I held nothing but love fore Kagome in my heart, and I always would, no matter what.

Completely content and satisfied, Kagome smiled more beautifully then I'd ever seen her smile before and she leaned forward brushing her lips against mine gently before pulling away all too soon and looking me straight in the eyes.

"I love you too, InuYasha. Never ever forget that." She said this wih so much reverence, that a smile broke out on my own face. A smile I couldn't contain, and in return for my new found happiness, I grabbed Kagome, pulling her close to me, and kissed her with all I had.


End file.
